PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth woman charged with lying to police about her whereabouts regarding the investigation into UNH student Elizabeth Marriott's alleged murder waived her probable cause hearing Wednesday morning, and a Portsmouth Circuit Court judge continued her previously set bail conditions with some modifications.

Kathryn “Kat” McDonough, 19, previously of Greenside Avenue, was arrested on Christmas Eve and charged with one felony count of hindering apprehension or prosecution and one felony count of conspiracy to commit hindering apprehension or prosecution. Both are Class B felonies, and each carries a sentence of up to 7 years imprisonment.

At an arraignment in Derry last week, McDonough's bail was set at $35,000 cash bail or corporate surety, which she posted on Sunday, Dec. 30. She was shortly thereafter released into her parent's custody, from Hillsborough County House of Corrections.

She attended Wednesday's her probable cause hearing in a black pencil skirt and pink blouse with glasses and styled hair, strikingly different from her previous video arraignment where she sat in a red jail jumpsuit in Rockingham County.

Before the Portsmouth courtroom, Judge Sawato Gardner asked McDonough a few questions, including whether she understood what she was waiving and the nature of her alleged offenses, to which the 19-year-old suspect only replied a softly spoken “yes” several times. When Gardner asked for some background on McDonough before continuing her bail at $35,000, McDonough's attorney Ryan Russman asked if they could sit down, to which the judge asked them to continue standing.

In his presentation, Russman called McDonough “young and impressionable,” noting she just graduated from high school a few months earlier.

“You can appreciate that she is only 19 years old,” he said. “…We understand the seriousness of this, as does Kathryn.”

Russman said the experience had been “frightening” for his client and stressed she plans to stay with her parents, Peter and Denise, in the Elwyn Park neighborhood on McKinley Road, across the street from her grandparents. He noted the McDonough family owns a business in the Port City and McDonough wishes to continue working at the arts and crafts retailer Michaels Stores Inc. in Newington. The family attorney, Jay Nadeau, said the McDonoughs own the contemporary ceramic art studio store Firefly Pottery on Mirona Road.

Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley confirmed McDonough was arrested without incident on Dec. 24 at Michaels. He told Gardner during the hearing the family of the alleged victim Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott, previously of Westborough, Mass., had nothing further to add on the prosecution's behalf.

Gardner modified additional bail conditions to include McDonough have no contact with murder suspect Seth Mazzaglia, 30, of Dover, his parents Heather and Joseph, or the Marriott family. She is required to be accompanied by a parent if she goes out between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. and to not leave the state of New Hampshire, in addition to several other conditions previously set at McDonough's arraignment in Derry, including she not possess any firearms or weaponry and have no alcohol or drugs.

Following the Portsmouth hearing, Hinckley confirmed Mazzaglia and McDonough had a “boyfriend and girlfriend relationship” at the time of the murder suspect's arrest, on Oct. 13. The former Sawyer Mill Apartments resident, Mazzaglia, is charged with the alleged suffocation or strangulation of Marriott on Oct. 9. Hinckley said he was limited in what he could say regarding the case when answering a flurry of reporters' questions, but confirmed prosecutors are seeking an extension for an indictment of Mazzaglia, to postpone his grand jury proceedings until February. Mazzaglia continues to be held without bail.

Hinckley added it is not unusual for McDonough to have waived her hearing earlier that day.

McDonough left her hearing with her parents ahead of her. She declined to answer reporter's questions, even when one broadcast reporter asked loudly, “Was Seth pressuring you, Kat?” They exited the court parking lot in a vehicle before Russman stepped in to answer questions as McDonough's attorney.

Russman said he was handed a version of the sealed arrest warrant 20 minutes beforehand, and was unable to be review all of the facts. The documents are only available to him and McDonough at this time, he said.

Authorities say the information gleaned in the mysterious death of Lizzi Marriott has stemmed from “credible sources,” which led them to charge Mazzaglia originally with murder.

Foster's Daily Democrat has learned the alleged murder occurred during a sexual encounter. Foster's has been unable to confirm whether the sexual encounter was voluntary and was recently denied the unsealing of court affidavits at Dover District Court after petitioning for release of those documents and other investigatory materials.

According to one released court document, McDonough allegedly agreed with her boyfriend, murder suspect Seth Mazzaglia, to “cause the commission of the crime of hindering apprehension or prosecution” regarding the investigation of Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott's disappearance and alleged murder in early October. Mazzaglia and McDonough both allegedly lied to police during interviews on Oct. 12 in Newington. There, police say, Mazzaglia and McDonough gave investigators false alibis regarding their whereabouts Oct. 9 and their interaction with Marriott that night.

Hinckley noted the next step in McDonough's charges will be a possible grand jury indictment, which is a confidential proceeding. He would not say whether Mazzaglia and McDonough's indictments would take place at the same time.

Hinckley previously stated a search continues for Marriott's body, even after a weeks-long search of waters near Peirce Island in Portsmouth last October. No positive results have turned up in the result yet.

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